It is a black and white photo. You can see a view down a street. On the left are flat buildings with high mullioned windows. On the right are two four-storey buildings with high mullioned windows. At the end of the street is another such building. People on foot and on bicycles can be seen on the street.

Postcard of the Steinhof Mental Hospital for the Mentally and Nervously Ill, Vienna XIII, before 1914.

Es ist ein schwarz-weißes Foto. Es ist verblichen und hat einige Feuchtigkeitsflecken. Zu sehen ist der Blick von oben herab auf ein herrschaftliches Gebäude. Eine große Treppenanlage führt zu dem Gebäudeeingang. Das Gebäude hat zwei hohe Stockwerke mit einer Glockenturm in der Mitte. Es hat sehr hohe Fenster und eine Balustrade auf dem Vordach.

Postcard of the »Am Steinhof« mental hospital, Vienna XIII, before 1914.

ArEGL 99.

WIEN

The »Vienna Municipal Welfare Institution Am Spiegelgrund« began operating in July 1940 on the grounds of the »Am Steinhof« Mental Hospital (now the Penzing Clinic). It was divided into a reformatory and a »mental hospital for children«, which also included the »Children’s ward« in House 15. The welfare institution was headed by special needs teacher Franz Winkelmayer, while House 15 was managed by Heinrich Gross until September 1944.

Other individuals responsible included the directors of the psychiatric hospital, Erwin Jekelius and his successors Hans Bertha and Ernst Illing. Illing and Gross had been trained by brain researcher Hans Heinze to work in the »Children’s ward«. Doctors Marianne Türk and Margarethe Hübsche were also involved in the murder of the children and adolescents.

Two-thirds of the children and adolescents admitted to the Vienna »Children’s ward« had previously been in public institutions. Forty percent of the children and adolescents were admitted with negative medical reports, such as »unable to learn«, »inferior«, etc.

Of the 789 killings recorded in the statistics, 19 took place in 1940 and 94 in the following year. In 1942, the number rose to 101 and peaked in 1943 with 274 children murdered. The year 1944 brought violent death to 161 children, and from 1945 until the end of the war, another 50 children.

Among those murdered were children and adolescents on whom a tuberculosis vaccine had previously been tested. After the murders, pathologist Barbara Uiberrak removed the brains and spinal cords from the bodies. These remains were used for research at various institutions until the 1970s. In 2002, they were buried.

After the war, the nurses were wanted by the authorities. Ernst Illing was sentenced to death, which was carried out in 1946. Other participants in the crime received minor prison sentences, which were offset by time served in pre-trial detention. Later proceedings were discontinued due to the statute of limitations for »manslaughter«. Only Gross was tried for murder between 1997 and 2000, but the proceedings were discontinued for health reasons.

Municipal youth welfare institution »Am Spiegelgrund« of the Provincial Mental Hospital »Am Steinhof« Vienna.

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